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Web Start Video Experiments

Note: Tracker needs Java and QuickTime 7.

Click a link below to Web Start a Tracker video experiment. Or download tracker_sampler.jar (file size 7.6 MB) to get these and many other experiments in a single jar file with an OSP Launcher interface.

Traditional Mechanics Experiments

  1. Motion Diagram opens a video of a tossed ball and displays a live motion diagram.
  2. Ball Toss tracks a tossed ball with a point mass.
  3. Pendulum looks at a simple pendulum and compares its acceleration with the net force applied.
  4. 2D Collision analyzes the momentum and cm of a system of colliding pucks.
  5. Terminal Velocity tracks the motions of cupcake cups dropped from rest with different masses attached.

Additional mechanics videos are available in mechanics_videos.zip.

Video Modeling Experiments

In a video modeling experiment students don't track video features with a mouse, but instead define force expressions and initial conditions for a dynamic model simulation that synchronizes with and draws itself on the video. The behavior of the model is thus compared directly with that of the real-world motion.

  1. Monkey with Parachute models a projectile hitting a monkey falling with a parachute.
  2. Spring Wars models a cart pulled by opposing springs and slowed by friction.
  3. Bouncing Cart models a cart bouncing from a spring at the lower end of a tilted track.
  4. Accelerating Cart Pendulum models a ball suspended from an accelerating cart.

These and other student videos captured for a modeling project in an introductory mechanics course are available in modeling_videos.zip.

Spectroscopy Experiments

These visible spectra include HeNe red (633nm) and green (543 nm) laser spots for calibration. Wavelengths and relative intensities are measured using an interactive line profile tool.

  1. Hydrogen Spectrum shows the Balmer series spectrum of Hydrogen.
  2. Helium Spectrum shows the emission spectrum of Helium.
  3. Thermal Spectrum: Color shows the color spectrum produced by an incandescent lamp.
  4. Thermal Spectrum: Grayscale shows the incandescent spectrum recorded in grayscale.
  5. Color Filter compares the spectra of filtered and unfiltered light from an incandescent lamp.
  6. Fluorescent Dye shows the spectrum of a red fluorescent dye illuminated with a green laser.
  7. Fluorescent Lamp shows the spectrum of a fluorescent lamp with a "color temperature" of 6300K.

Additional spectroscopy videos are available in spectroscopy_videos.zip.